Making The Low Go

Day two of Diabetes Blog Week.  I'm so proud of myself!  I'm still in this thing!  To find links to other blogs taking part in this Blog-fest, visit Bitter-Sweet.  But not before you read mine and leave a comment!

Our carb of choice for Jenna when she is low comes in tablet form. 

Carb tabs are convenient, fast-acting, have exactly four carbs in them, can be broken in half and come in an assortment of fruity (albeit chalky) flavours.  You can pack ‘em in your purse or your pocket or stash them in a variety of other handy places like glove compartments, kitchen cupboards, nightstands, etc.   And one tablet raises Jenna’s blood sugar two points which is handy to know to predict how many she will need if we factor in whatever insulin still remains on board. 

  

    
We used to use juice, back when Jenna was on on MDI’s.  But ever since she began pumping insulin and the whole management of her blood sugar has become more precision-oriented (at least in theory), it only made sense to use a more precise method of raising her blood sugar in the event of a hypo.  

One night, a couple of hours after Jenna had been settled in bed we tested her and found her to be quite low. I tried to use glucose gel to raise her blood sugar to within range.  But given her low number she was less than cooperative. The hypo passed thanks to carb tabs which I was finally able to convince her to eat.  But the aftermath from the glucose gel was a sticky disaster that made it necessary to give Jenna a late night shower and a complete bedding overhaul before she could return to dreamland.  She had thrashed around so much, pushing our hands away every time we came at her with a spoonful of the icky-sticky stuff that it got everywhere--in her hair, on her pajamas, on her bed sheets...  Needless to say this did NOT help her already agitated state. I swore we would never use the stuff again. 

I’m not really sure what made me think that attempting to force-feed a sleepy, hypoglycemic three year old super-sticky, snappy-thick gel would actually be a good idea, given that she was totally irrational and had absolutely ZERO tolerance for ANYTHING, let alone trying to swallow a gob of what must be the stickiest, most sickly-sweet substance known to man...but these are life’s little lessons learned.  

So there you have it.  Carb tabs are our weapon of choice when battling lows.  The reasons are numerous.  But suffice it to say, I’d sooner be on hands and knees searching for a lost carb tab, flung in a hypo-induced rage than attempting to wash glucose gel out of my sleep deprived, hypo-recovering, preschooler’s hair in the wee hours of the night.